Try as I might, due to the abundance of various types of low voltage wire connector types, I can’t seem to find exactly what I’m looking for.
I do a lot of LED strips and DC powered automations and I’ve used many Wagos and soldered some stuff in place. These tend to have some problems though. Wagos can take up too much space, especially when connecting power to LED strips that can’t be tucked away. Soldering in place sucks and usually ends with a poor connection. LED snap on clips are ridiculously unreliable and weak connections. Barrel connectors are nice and small but the connection has the potential to pull out.
The holy grail IMO would be a very small plastic two wire housing that can clip together like a plastic belt buckle or those connectors that often come with 12V DC batteries in battery backups/motorized kids toys. I have no idea what term to search for to find these.
Anybody got any hints?
I like the idea of presoldering these onto the ends of LED strips in lieu of barrel connectors, so once you are ready to install in the location it’s as easy as snapping in place. If the LEDs burn out it can be replaced easily as well.
This seems like it. Thank you.
Do you think the JST SM connectors are the best option for this application?
Hmm. They’re dirt cheap so that is a pro. I don’t think they’re made to withstand mechanical load. So good for internal connections but less so if you’re moving around the wires constantly. There are beefier and more elaborate connectors available for that. But in my experience the JST connectors do their job well for normal electronics projects.
One thing to consider is the current rating. A quick googling tells me a common JST connector is rated for 3 Amps. That’s not a lot. About 75 LEDs per connector to stay within the limit. (Given 5V WS2812 RGB at full brightness. Or ~220 if it’s 12 Volt strips) So if your led strips aren’t longer than that, I’d say you’re fine.
But I’m not an expert on those things. I can’t tell you whether to choose the SM family or another one… But:
The Wikipedia article says JST SM connectors are used in some LED strips…
(So. I’d use them. But they’re not “the best solution”. They’re the minimum to do an alright job, make sure you can’t connect them backwards etc and apart from that, made to be as cheap as possible. The best would probably be some high quality german engineered products or sth like that (the country doesn’t really matter…))